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Guest nodeway

Guest nodeway

I created Discord server for Houdini => https://discord.gg/b8U5Hdy <= called Think Procedural. There are already couple of people there + some SESI guys are lurking there too.
We also got custom BOT. It's still in Beta mode, so some things doesn't work, but the most important functionality is already there.

The goal of creating this server is to bring Houdini closer to game developers. Around the corner there is a UE4 server with more than 1000 users and EPIC staff. There are also Unity/VirtualReality servers and the biggest from the all, GDL (Game Dev League) with 1300 online users.

If you are interested in using Houdini for game development or any type of graphic activity, join us and spread the word.

Once in a while I will be bumping this topic so that everybody would get the memo.

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Guest nodeway

Guest nodeway

I looked for it to get faster answers for UE4. With 1000 people online with different level of knowledge and expertise it's alot easier to get to your goal fast.
Another server that I like is Programming. Many languages to choose from if you are looking for help.

It's not a complete replacement for a forum, but if you need help fast, it works better. Load mobile app on youe Android/iOS device (or just use it thru browser) and you can chat on your way home/job. That's assuming that there is enough people with knowledge around.

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Just took a look, there are a lot of room/channels for non-game development (#hou-modeling etc). And with it being very accessible i will be happy to use it. Plus discord saves all public conversations so you can come back to it later.

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Guest nodeway

Guest nodeway

It's hard to make Houdini Discord without simulation or rendering topics. Do we like it or not, it's still not a weapon of choice for gamedev.
But the goal of this Discord is to at least have Houdini close to all those people who make games and are hanging out on Discord. If they are already on other servers, they may decide to also take a look there to see what we got in store.
Ideally I would like to also broadcast webinars thru this server. But the video chat & video sharing features are still couple months away.

#announcements channel pinned messages contains information about other interesting servers on Discord. I never linked them here, so here is the list:UE4 server (on crowdy days they can get even 1000 people online at once + EPIC employes)

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Open thought after wandering a bit on the Discord channel:
A search function is said to be coming on Discord but I cannot see how it can compete with a good old search that returns a full-of-info post from years ago on a forum.
Discord brings more chats on the moment, with solutions for the person asking, not lasting more than a few lines and lost forever. And yes I know about pinned post. Many "easy" questions would find an answer with a simple search on odforce/sidefx but users are more likely to simply ask.
Forums tend to create rather richer discussions, showing different approachs, hip files, fancy gifs and the occasional [insert_houdini_guru_name_here] genius idea. Some topics are even brought from the dead months/years later and completed with up to date informations.

I can hardly see Discord having a similar depth of knowledge after a few years.

Also, I'd happily refresh odforce during a work day, waiting for a cache. Topics are organised and you can easily read what you are interested into. Discord is harder to catch up as it can go into many cross discussions within the same channel (#hou-effects can encompass a lot of things) and I'm less willing to spend my work day reading a chat. Muting #lounge is not enough.

I've got nothing against a Discord channel, it does not serve the same purpose, but I hope it will not drag quality content out of the forums.

Closing thought: seems like I'm gently knocking to the old geezers' door

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Guest nodeway

Guest nodeway

Search is there already, but is not deployed for everyone, so to force it you have to use/download Canary builds of browser/desktop app. More on this in #announcements channel.

Marty, it's not heavy as long as you don't try to post 5 posts on topic in, for example, #hou-realtimeand then another 30-40 posts completely off-topic saying that talk is just flowing in and off. That would be very convenient excuse of every spammer from now.
Multiply this thru 130 people and you will have a complete mess.
Also, since this is realtime talk, we can't allow to call SESI staff just like that, without some restrictions.
We got some channels for simple talk, like #lounge, and some voice channels too, if you feel like talking to someone.

Just today joined us 3 people from UnrealSlackers Discord (one of them is Epic employe, @UnrealAlexcander, the one from Twitch streams). There is 5 or 6 people from SESI.
At the begin of December there was around 4 people online thru the day (totally 8), now it's 130 online (totally 473). So it's not that bad if they are still coming.

I created this with gamedevs in mind, to help push Houdini into their world, but it's really hard to avoid FX people in Houdini world. So right now I think there is more FX guys there. At some point, when we lure more people from Polycount, UnrealSlackers and other places, those proportions may change.

Edited January 16, 2017 by nodeway

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What's the main difference between gamedevs and FX people when they use Houdini? Isn't it just heavily optimised sims, i.e. vertex counts, and renders, sprite sheets, that have to fit into a game engine delivery platform. Thx!

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What's the main difference between gamedevs and FX people when they use Houdini? Isn't it just heavily optimised sims, i.e. vertex counts, and renders, sprite sheets, that have to fit into a game engine delivery platform. Thx!

Well I guess, its also the usage of Houdini as a pipeline tool, managing data, rather than outputting pure visuals. And yeah outputting stuff in a way that is compliant with other existing technology,
which sometimes means you are more limited in how you solve a problem, exporting rigs from Houdini directly into game engines sounds pretty challenging for example, but some animations baked into bones or vertices are more likely to work.

Also personally I almost never even touch DOPs . Though others do use it for baked destruction, cloth and water in games.

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When this first showed up it was really marvelous and I already thought Odforce would become much less relevant for me, but recently the discord server became so stuffed with - how to say that politely - people of a very "different kind" to what I would call helpful, clever and all around grown up that some days ago I deleted my account, uninstalled Discord and felt actually much relieved.

Before that I had waded through some discussions I couldn't believe were real...

In the meantime, most channels showed about 30-70% blocked-post notifications for me with some nice peoples posts sprinkled in between who tried to fight the good fight...

So thanks a lot Nodeway for your initial work and to everybody who posted great stuff there and helped out me and others, but in it's current state, I personally no longer find it a place I want to be in.
Probably makes me an "old geezer" too ;-)

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I've found the realtime chat nature of Discord to be both a blessing and a curse. Just another resource I've found to be useful if I have a very specific question. Some of the active contributors have been HUGELY helpful... while others I feel just want to prove how clever they are.